Our Granary Loaf is one of our most popular and it is very easy to make. A loaf for the whole family! By Rachel Dare
Makes 3 Loaves
1 kg/2 ¼ lb Doves Organic malted grain flour
500g/1 lb Doves Strong wholemeal flour
3 tsp sea salt
50g/ 1 ½ oz fresh yeast
3 heaped tsp molasses
850mls hand hot water, 3 tbsp olive oil and a little milk
Sesame, sunflower or poppy seeds to top loaf
Tip the flours into a very large mixing bowl and add the salt. Mix 200mls of boiling water into a measuring jug and top up to the 425mls mark with water from the cold tap. Drop the molasses into the water and mix until dissolved, then crumble in the fresh yeast and stir until it goes creamy. Leave rise for 10 to 15 minutes.
Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the contents the jug into it, and then add another 425ml of hand hot water in, then add the 3 tbsp olive oil. With one hand, start working the wet and dry together, I find turning the bowl with your left hand as you stir with your right makes it quicker. When it has come together into a ball, remove from the bowl and start kneading it your work surface. Sometimes the dough will feel to wet so you dust a little flour over it and sometimes it will be too dry so you sprinkle a little water over it. After you have worked the dough for a while you will probably need to add a little flour. Don’t forget thought that bread making is all about patience so don’t add too much of anything at one time as it alters consistency quickly. Kneading is made easier if you can leave the dough for a few minutes to rest before working it again, this way seems to bypass the 10 minutes of hard work that has been the perceived best way to make bread. So turning and folding the dough into itself a few times then leave to rest for up to 5 minutes before repeating again (do this 3 to 5 times depending on how patient you are!)
Place to dough into the bowl again and leave covered with damp tea towel for about an hour preferable in a warm place.
Turn your oven on to 230 C/450 F/Gas 8 to warm up. Brush the inside of your bread tins with oil. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and divide into three pieces with a knife. Knock the air out of each loaf, flattening out and then fold each corner into itself to shape into an oblong. Place into the tins.
Re-cover with the tea towel and leave next to or on top of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes for the final rise. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle the seeds over. Place in the oven, two on the top shelf and one on the bottom. Set your timer for 35 minutes, but it could take 40. You want a distinctive hollow sound when you tap the base of the loaf, this gets easier to tell and you develop a sense of when they are done. Turn out onto a wire rack and leave for 30 minutes to cool as the loaf won’t cut well while still hot.
As a variation you can add seeds to the flour (a mixed handfull of sunflower, sesame and poppy seeds works really well but you can also add linseeds and hemp for something different). You can also vary the flour type, adding a handful or two of white if you like a lighter loaf.